Hotaru's Witches
Hotaru's Witches, known occasionally as "Hotaru's Coven", are a group of female mages closely affiliated with Hotaru Hiroshi. Initially encountered by Kenji Hiroshi and Van Satonaka, the pair discounted them as an independent group, and wrongly assumed them to be a cultist organisation similar to the Evening Primrose. Hotaru's Witches later served as senior members of the Evening Primrose when Sakae Kisaragi assumed control. Hotaru was later revealed to be aligned with the larger Coven organisation when said group went public, his own group a faction of the whole. Overview Hotaru's group was initially quite low-key regarding its operations and was strictly a shadow organisation.Exposition Into the Unknown This changed in later years, with the group becoming far more public and bold. The public face of the group was Sakae Kisaragi, which led to the false assumption that she was actually the leader of the entire group with Hotaru as her subordinate; especially after it was discovered that she was in someway involved in the murder of Kazuya Kuchiki.Blank period: Moving Forward In truth Sakae was the fifth member of the group recruited.Sakae's Descent Under Sakae's orders the group inflamed the Evening Primrose to act as a diversion to waylay the investigation of Van Satonaka, who held the belief that Hotaru, under the alias Yoshiro Shiba, was the mysterious Van had fought years previously.Towards the Future: Finalisation She further attacked Kichō Sayaka, a known student of Kenji and Van, to distract and enrage the pair; her plan was successful, and Kenji was more-or-less blinded by a growing lust for revenge.Blank period: Retaliation The twins Airi and Asuka Natsume came into Hotaru's confidence much earlier than Sakae. During a recruitment mission gone wrong Hotaru's followers ended up coming to blows with Gundinger Drelairn when the was passing through the . When he fled through a he miscalculated the scope and ended up taking Asuka with him to the . Asuka subsequently fought Gundinger but Akira Hiroshi intervened on Gundinger's behalf, but allowed Asuka to escape.Journal entry: July, 2010 Known members *Sakae Kisaragi.Assault on the 9th Division: Pre-Assault *Airi Natsume. *Unnamed third member. *Unnamed fourth member. Known assets *Kensei Muguruma. Former members *Asuka Natsume. Technology Aside from organisation and threat level the one thing that elevated Hotaru's group from other cults encountered by the Gotei 13 was their access to advanced technology. Akira speculated the flow of technology was strictly controlled by Hotaru. Through a complex blending of and technologies Hotaru's group came into possession of a modified Kensei Muguruma.Back From the Dead: Kensei Muguruma!? This was made possible by Samuru Asai though his involvement, and the wider implications, was unknown for an extended period.Hisana Kuchiki intro Kensei was used effectively as an enforcer, surprise element, and for psychological warfare against his old companions.Zombie Kensei thread with Saris Hotaru's group likewise possessed potent teleportation equipment. Sakae was known to be capable of travelling unspecified distances without alerting sentries or leaving behind a trail to follow. It wasn't clear whether this form of travel involved Kidō or not, but the erasure of one's reiatsu during travel was provided by Sakae upon her recruitment. True to Akira's suspicions said technology was controlled strictly by Hotaru and it appeared only Sakae was fully trusted with it, for Asuka could not leave the Forest of Menos of her own volition. Headquarters Although no one location has been confirmed to house Hotaru's primary base of operations it has been speculated to be somewhere in . Van managed to follow Hotaru to a meeting with Sakae that took place in an unspecified northern district, whilst Sakae herself has been known to frequent the area surrounding Zaraki.Blank period: The Jaws Close Even before Sakae was recruited Hotaru and his followers frequented the northern areas of Rukongai. They where also known to operate in various countries in the World of the Living. Author's notes Behind the scenes *"Hotaru's Witches" arose from the reshuffle of the current FC. Several role-plays between the author and Sig made reference to a "Coven", without going into too many specifics. :*In this case the term "Coven" refers to a gathering of witches. All members of Hotaru's faction where female. Trivia References & notes